In two recent papers (Longuet-Higgins 1989a,b) the author showed that the shape oscillations of bubbles can emit sound like a monopole source, at second order in the distortion parameter ε. In the second paper (LH2) it was predicted that the emission would be amplified when the second harmonic frequency 2σn of the shape oscillation approaches the frequency ω of the breathing mode. This ‘resonance’ would however be drastically limited by damping due to acoustic radiation and thermal diffusion. The predictions were confirmed by further numerical calculations in Longuet-Higgins (1990a).

Ffowcs Williams & Guo (1991) have questioned the conclusions of LH2 on the grounds that near resonance there is a slow (secular) transfer of energy between the shape oscillation and the volumetric mode which tends to diminish the amplitude of the shape oscillation and hence falsify the perturbation analysis. They have also argued that the volumetric mode never grows sufficiently to produce sound of the stated order of magnitude. In the present paper we show that these assertions are unfounded. Ffowcs Williams & Guo considered only undamped oscillations. Here we show that when the appropriate damping is included in their analysis the secular transfer of energy becomes completely insignificant. The resulting pressure pulse (figure 5 below) is found to be essentially identical to that calculated in LH2, figure 3. Moreover, in the initial-value problem considered in LH2, the excitation of the volumetric mode takes place not by a secular energy transfer but by a resonance during the first few cycles of the shape oscillation. This accounts for the amplification near resonance found in Longuet-Higgins (1990a). Finally, it is pointed out that the initial energy of the shape oscillations is far greater than is required to produce the O(ε2) volume pulsations that were studied in LH2, and which were used for a comparison with field data. This acoustic radiation was not calculated by Ffowcs Williams & Guo.